In The Light of Darknes
by Kumiko-kun
Summary: Ed is back home living with Al, Winry and Aunt Pinako, only keeping contact with Roy and company by letters. But when tragedy strikes the small town of Risembol, what will Ed do when he is in charge of something that he never thought he would get? RoyxEd!
1. To see you again

**Disclaimer:** I don't own FMA…

**Warnings:** Language maybe, yaoi, spoilers for after the movie a bit… sort of… (Al has a human body and is only a year younger than Ed for the purposes of this story)

**Summary:** After the movie, Ed goes back home to live with Al, Winry and Aunt Pinako. Though he regularly writes letters to the group at Central, he pretty much keeps out of the eye of the military, preferring to stay there with Al and his family. But when tragedy strikes the small town of Risembol, what will Ed do when he is in charge of something that he never thought he would get?

**Pairing: **AlxWinry, RoyxEd (eventually), RizaxHavoc

**In The Light of Darkness**

Part 1

Roy sat at his desk in his office, staring out the large window at the clear blue sky. His mind wandered from his paperwork to the thoughts of the young blonde that had graced his office so many years before. The rambunctious attitude and the free spirit that kept him moving toward his goal of recovering his brother's body had finally taken him to his goal nearly four years ago. In truth, he missed seeing the blonde every time he returned from a mission. It was a sight for sore eyes when he showed up after being missing for two years but after all was said and done those two years ago, he again vanished from Roy's sights; this time returning to Risembol to live with his family. Though he used to receive letters from him updating him on his status, he could tell that he was happy to be with his brother. It wasn't until nearly a year ago when the letters stopped, that Roy had gotten worried that something might have happened but when he went to question Riza, she had told him not to worry and that perhaps Ed had just found someone new in his life to spend his time with. With that response from Riza, Roy had let it go, his worrying didn't stop but he never went to Risembol to check up on him. Something in him told him that he would see him again.

Sighing, he turned around to continue to work on his paperwork. Sheet after sheet, signature after signature. Somehow, he thought being a Brigadier General would have more perks than just a crap load of more paperwork involved. It didn't take him, however, to hear the voices outside his office door as they grew louder with some kind of uproar.

"I could have sworn I just saw the boss in the city," Roy heard Havoc say. "It looked exactly like him but he had some kid with him."

Roy raised his head and stared at the closed door for a moment before getting up and moving toward the door to listen. He knew that if he opened it, Riza would give him and earful for not doing his paperwork so instead, he pressed his ear against the door.

"Maybe he settled down, Havoc," this time it was Riza speaking. "He is allowed to do that."

"Yeah, but I didn't think he liked anyone else but Mustang," was Havoc's response.

_What is he talking about? _Roy's eyebrows rose, completely intrigued with the conversation in his outer office.

"Havoc, that was nearly four years that you got him to confess that to you," Breda spoke now. "The poor kid didn't even have the heart to tell him before he went to fix Al."

"Well that and the fact that he was gone for two years probably didn't help the feelings either," Havoc responded.

Now Roy heard the sound of moving chairs, shuffling paper and footsteps before he jumped back at the knock on the door. Jumping, back he stared at the door for a moment before opening it up to see who was on the other side. When he saw Riza standing on the other side with a stack of papers in her arms, the look on her face was not a happy one.

"It's not polite to eavesdrop on others' conversations, sir," she said as she started to move into his office and dropping the stack on the top of his desk.

"What were you guys talking about?" He asked, trying to calm himself down after being scared like that. "What was that about Ed?"

"It's not something for me to say, sir," she replied, standing in front of his desk when he took his seat. "I suggest that you don't worry yourself over such things until your paperwork is complete. The stack that I just put on your desk we have just received so they don't need to be done until the end of the week but make sure that everything else is done by tonight." She glanced at the clock that hung on his office wall. "Which is only three hours away, so I suggest that you get working."

With that, Roy watched as she turned around and proceeded out of his office, shutting the door behind her. _What do they mean by Ed only liking me? I don't understand but I don't get the part where Ed was seen with some kid. _Running a hand through his hair, he set his mind back on his work with little success at keeping the blonde from his mind.

When the clock on his wall rang for five o'clock, he was glad to see that he had managed to finish all of his work plus some that was due by the end of the week. Standing, he stretched his arms above his head and reached for his military uniform top to shrug into. As he put his arms into the sleeves, he glanced out the window and caught a glimpse of a blonde that was strikingly familiar to him. _Could that really be Ed? _Roy stared at the blonde that was making his way down the street with a smaller blonde attached to his back. _This is all too confusing for me. _Quickly, he through his jacket on and raced out of the office, ignoring Riza's yells of protest when he went by. He was too focused on knowing if the blonde that he had seen was Ed or just something on his mind playing tricks on him. Once on the street, he looked both ways and found that the blonde was headed toward the park. Deciding to stay back a bit until he knew for sure if it was Ed or not, Roy followed from a safe distance. Everyone once in awhile seeing the kid shake with laughter at perhaps something the man had said. The kid couldn't be more than two years old.

Crossing the street, he followed the pair into the park, where he saw the man placed the kid on the ground before sitting on the bench and watching the young girl play in the sand that was there. For a moment he just watched the young girl playing before he cautiously stepped up to the blonde.

"You don't make a very good spy," he heard the blonde say before he turned around to reveal a much more adult looking Ed. There was smile on his face as he turned to look back toward the young girl that was playing.

Still, he was just like Roy remembered with large golden eyes and beautiful blonde hair but now was in a ponytail rather than a braid. His features, though just as nice, were more grown-up.

"Ed…" Roy said, not entirely what to say to him.

"I'm sorry," Ed replied, his voice dropping a bit and the smile gone from his face.

Roy took a seat on the bench beside him, also looking at the young girl that had somehow managed to dump sand all over her head but didn't look as if she minded it at all.

"Marianna." He heard Ed say, answering an unasked question. "She's…" Ed paused, taking a deep breath. "She's Al and Winry's kid."

Nodding for a moment, Roy just continued to watch her. "How are they doing?"

Silence filled the air between the two of them before Roy heard a small sniffle like someone was crying. When he turned to look at Ed, he found that it looked like he was going to cry at any moment. Reaching his hand over, he squeezed Ed's shoulder.

"Ed?"

Shaking his head, he took his off his niece and looked at Roy. "I'm sorry I haven't told you or anyone at the office," Ed began, swallowing hard. "Last year, I had Mari out in the garden outside of Pinako's house, watching the clouds go by in the sky. She had just turned one at the time and Al and Winry were inside cleaning up after the small party they had for her. We were just quiet, paying attention to ourselves. Then…" Another shake of the head. "It went downhill after that. I heard a noise from behind me and when I turned around, the house was in flames. I remember grabbing Mari and moving farther away from the house to keep her safe." Ed turned away, looking back at the young girl who was oblivious to her uncle's sadness. "She was one, Roy, too young to lose her parents. I was screaming so loud for them to come out and wanting so bad to go in and try to get them out but I couldn't leave Mari outside alone. I didn't know what to do, Roy."

Roy wrapped his arm around Ed's shoulders as he started to cry again. _So this is why he hadn't written in such a long time, _he thought, turning his head to see that the little girl was now looking at them strangely. With a little hop, he saw the girl jump from the sandbox and run up to them, worry written on her face.

"Uncle Eddy!" She yelled, running up to him and hugging his legs. "Uncle Eddy, what's wrong?"

Wiping his eyes on his sleeves as he sat up, he smiled down at the young girl, trying to hide the sadness. "Nothing, sweetheart, it's just that this is a very good friend of mine that I haven't seen in a long time and I was happy to see him."

Roy watched as the young girl looked from Ed to himself and back to Ed. He noted that the young girl's hair was a shade darker than Ed's and she had the deep blue eyes that he remembered Winry having.

"Why don't you introduce yourself," Ed said, seeming like he was trying to remove her attention from him for a moment.

Roy smiled at the little girl as she turned toward him and with sandy hair, picked up the sides of her dress and curtsied to him.

"My name is Marianna Elric," she said, smiling up at him. "What is your name?"

"I am Roy Mustang," he said, standing up and bowing to her. "You are very polite for a young lady."

"Uncle Eddy taught me how to be a polite little girl," she said, beaming praise upon her uncle. "I've tried teaching him how to be a gentleman but it never works."

"Mari!" Ed yelled, faking hurt in his voice and covering his face with his hands.

Roy sat back on the bench and watched as Ed played with his young niece before she moved back to the sandbox and played. He again kept his focus on the little girl, listening to Ed as he was stilling trying to get himself under control. His mind was swirling with questions but he didn't want to bombard him with tons of questions all at once, seeing how he didn't really know what to say to him in entirely. It's been nearly two years since he's talked to him outside of letters and a year since even that. It was nice and nerve-racking at the same time to be this close to Ed without anything to say.

"It's hard taking care of her by myself," Ed said, leaning against the back of the bench. "I never thought that I would ever have to take care of a child like this, let alone by brother's. I've explained to her what happened to her parents as nicely as I could put it for a child to understand. She'll probably end up asking again when she gets older but I kind of hope not. It was hard enough to explain to her once that she'll never see her parents, I don't know if I could do it again to her."

"You explained it to me," Roy said, glancing over at the blonde. "I'm sorry to hear about it now."

"It's okay," he replied, sighing. "I promised them after I knew that they were gone that I would keep Mari safe and help her grow up the right way. I just don't know how I am going to do that exactly."

"What do you mean?" Roy asked, confused.

"While I was living with all of them, I didn't need another job," Ed explained, picking at the fibers of his slacks. "I just helped them out with their automail business by cleaning up and doing minor things. After everything burnt down in the fire, I have no way of reestablishing the place or business and I have no idea how to make automail in the first place. It's been over a year since I've had my maintenance done. The only other way I know how to make money is the military but I can't do that to her. It's hard enough to have three people in life leave her, I don't need to do that to her, too."

"Where have you been staying?"

"Well, we were staying at a friend's house in Risembol but they just had a baby too two months ago and I didn't want to be any more of a burden on them," he stated, sitting up more on the bench. "Now we're staying at the hotel down the road from Gracia's house. She had asked me to stay with her since I have a limited budget but I declined, telling her that I'll be there for her cooking at least. I just don't know what to do. As it looks now, we only have enough money for another month at the hotel then we are out of someplace to stay." Sighing, he leaned against the armrest of the bench and stared out at Mari. "I don't know what to do, Roy. I'm not a father; I'm not someone that can do this."

Roy smiled and turned on the bench to face toward Ed more. "Ed, look at me." When he did so, Roy continued. "You have been taking care of her since your family passed and since then it doesn't seem like anyone has tried to take her from you for bad parenting and she looks healthy to me. Why don't you guys come back to my house with me, we'll eat something and figure out something for you to do for a job."

"No, Roy, I don't want to burden you with anything," Ed said, his face flushing a bit at the thought of being at Roy's house. His feelings from when he was younger never seemed to burn out in the years since their working together. "You probably have someone living their already with you and a family of your own."

"Ed, do you think if I've had a family, that I would be sitting here after work talking to you," Roy asked, quirking an eyebrow as he watched Ed shake his head. "I'm as much the same person I was back when you used to work for me with maybe a few more perks since I was promoted."

He watched as Ed turned to Mari, seeming to contemplate Roy's offer before standing up and going over to the sandbox. Roy wasn't sure what he was doing but when he saw the girl's face light up and look at him, he was a little bit scared. His fears grew more when he saw her bolt from the sandbox and attach herself to one of his legs.

"Uncle Eddy said you can do alchemy too," she squealed, smiling happily. "Can you show me?"

"Um…" Roy looked up at Ed who was now standing a few feet away from him with his arms folded on his chest then back down at the little girl. "I'll make you something really pretty, okay? But that's only if you eat your dinner."

"Awww…" she stuck her lip out at him and looked up at him with the saddest little eyes she could muster, trying her hardest to win him over with her cuteness. "Do I really have to wait that long?"

Again, Roy glanced up at Ed for some kind of advice, the only kid he had to deal with was Elysia and she was too old now to give him the pouty lip and get any reaction but when Ed just shook his head and chuckled he looked back at Mari.

"How about you help me cook and then I'll show you?" He bargained with the girl, hoping that this would work somehow.

"Okay!" She squeaked, happy now before grabbing his hand and trying to pull him off the bench. "Come on, Uncle Eddy and Uncle Roy, let's go!"

Ed just chuckled as he followed the two away from the park and down the street toward the office. He caught up to walk beside Mari on the opposite side of Roy, who seemed a bit scared by the girl's eagerness to hold his hand as they walked. Reaching down, he took a hold of her other hand, receiving an adorable little smile in return. Everything about the young girl reminded him of his brother and Winry, her eyes and hair and the way she pouted like he could remember Winry doing as a child. It was hard to keep smiling when he looked at her; it was still too close to their deaths for him to completely move on and away from them but something about being back in Central helped ease the feelings of guilt and sadness some. He wasn't ready to move on in his mind but his heart was ready to move from the past and remember all the good things that they had. Smiling down at her once more before turning to watch where they were going, he was hoping and wishing that they could truly move on and have a happy life like Al and Winry would want them to have.

**TO BE CONTINUED…**

**AN:** Another story started and I haven't finished the other two but this idea just popped into my head while I was at work and decided to roll with it. Hope you like it and please review it!! I want to make sure you people think it's a good idea before I continue!!


	2. Dinner

I don't own any of the FMA characters but I wish I did sometimes! Lol

It's literally been a long time since I've updated anything or uploaded anything

either and figured that I have time on my hands and that I would

do something about this. Plus, I've got my writing curve back so to speak!

Also, THANK YOU SO MUCH TO THOSE WHO HAVE BEEN READING

MY STORIES, REVIEWING AND FAVORITING THEM!

ENJOY!

**Warnings:** Language maybe, yaoi, spoilers for after the movie a bit… sort of… (Al has a human body and is only a year younger than Ed for the purposes of this story)

**Summary:** After the movie, Ed goes back home to live with Al, Winry and Aunt Pinako. Though he regularly writes letters to the group at Central, he pretty much keeps out of the eye of the military, preferring to stay there with Al and his family. But when tragedy strikes the small town of Risembol, what will Ed do when he is in charge of something that he never thought he would get?

**Pairing: **AlxWinry, RoyxEd (eventually), RizaxHavoc

**In The Light of Darkness**

Part 2

The walk was silent except for the quiet humming coming from the young child that held both Roy's and Ed's hands. A smile graced Ed's face as he listened to the humming, recognizing the tune as the song that Al always sang to her before she had fallen asleep as a baby. This brought back memories that he had a hard time keeping the tears from forcing themselves from his eyes. It hadn't taken long to reach Roy's house and it amazed Ed at how big the house actually was.

"This is your house?" Ed asked when they stopped in front of a metal gate, his eyes wide.

"I told you that being promoted came with a few perks, didn't I?" Roy replied with a chuckle in his voice as he opened the gate and began the walk up to the door. When he stopped at the bottom of the steps leading to the door, he looked back and saw that neither of the two had moved from in front of the gate. "Are you two coming or not?"

Shaking his head, Ed gave a tug to Marianna's hand and followed Roy up to the house. "Sorry, it's just really big and I can't believe that you don't have woman fawning all over you trying to get in there."

Laughing, Roy unlocked the door and held it open for them to enter first. "I think I'm just too busy to be out anymore chasing woman, Ed."

"Uncle Eddy..." Marianna whined from where she stood on the doorstep, not moving from her spot.

Looking down at her, Ed knelt by her side and held her hands in his. "What is it, sweetie?"

"I'm all covered in sand, will I be allowed inside?" She asked, a small pout appearing on her face before glancing up at Ed then Roy.

"Well, I think you'll have to ask Uncle Roy if you can come inside with the sand," Ed stated as he began to brush the sand from her hair.

Giggling, she allowed Ed to brush her hair clean before stepping over to Roy and hesitantly tugging on his pants. "Uncle Roy, may I come inside with the sand?"

Roy looked down at the child then over to Ed, he still was unsure of how to interact with small children since Elysia has grown so much. With no help from Ed, Roy knelt down to be eye level with her and smiled. "Of course you may enter, we'll just clean you up inside before we start dinner, alright?"

A smile crossed her face before she screamed in happiness and hugged Roy around the neck, catching him off guard and causing him to fall back into the door. Marianna continued to hang onto Roy as he caught her when he fell back, an act that emitted a quiet chuckle from the blonde that was witnessing their interaction. After a few moments, Ed came over and pulled Marianna off of Roy and helping him from here he was stuck.

"Now, Roy," Ed said, faining seriousness, "She's a bit young for you to be chasing, don't you think?"

Shocked, Roy stared at Ed for a moment before he saw the laughter in his eyes and shook his head. "Edward! I think, I'd prefer someone a bit older than her. Now, please enter before we let all of the cold out."

Ed kept chuckling as he led himself and Marianna into the large house that led first into a small hallway with many openings.

"The bathroom is on the left, the second door," Roy instructed as he removed his blue military jacket and rolled up his sleeves. "Then the kitchen is just around the corner at the end of the hallway. I'll wait there for little miss Marianna before starting dinner."

"Thank you, Roy," Ed said again before leading his niece into the bathroom to clean her off. "I'll bring her to you when we're done."

"Don't mention it, Ed," he replied with a smile. "I'll always be here for anything you need." With that, Roy moved down the hallway and disappeared into the kitchen.

When they were inside the bathroom, Marianna climbed onto the closed toilet so that Ed could clean off the rest of the sand that she had managed to get stuck in every crevasse of her clothing. Silent spread between the two as the small sand pellets made little tapping sounds against the tile flooring of the bathroom.

"Uncle Eddy," Marianna said quietly, leaning a little bit down toward Ed. "Is that the man that is in the picture that you always carry in your suitcase?"

Confused for a moment, Ed stopped in his movements and looked up at her. "What are you talking about?"

"The old picture that you have hidden in your suitcase," she explained, keeping her voice very quiet. "It's old and wrinkled and looks very worn out."

"How do you have such a huge vocabulary?" He questioned before going back to brushing the sand clean from her dress. "Yes, that's him and don't be snooping in my things, Marianna. That's a rude and very bad thing to do."

Bowing her head, she replied, "I'm sorry, Uncle Eddy."

"Just don't do it again, Mari," Ed said as he stood up and swiped his hands together. "All clean, now let's find Roy so that you can help him cook."

Opening the door, he led Marianna down the hall into the kitchen and found that Roy had all the ingredients down on the counter tops though he couldn't recognize what was going to be prepared. Mari smiled happily as she sprinted up to Roy and tugged again on his pants.

"Uncle Roy, I'm all clean now, can I help?" She asked politely when she had his attention.

"Of course, we just need Ed to stay out of the kitchen so we can surprise him with what we are making," Roy replied, smiling as he washed his hands. "Do you want to ask him to wait for a moment?"

Nodding, Mari ran back over to Ed before asking him nicely to wait in the living room while she helped her new Uncle Roy with making the dinner. He was nothing less than happy to wait in the living room, glad that she was getting along with Roy and that Roy didn't seem to mind completely that she was around. Ed turned around and went through the opening that Roy had pointed toward to lead himself in the room where he was to wait. Around the room, he found that the walls were covered in photos taken, most likely, by Hughes before his death. Looking at all of the pictures, he noticed a coincident that was in each picture. Every picture that was hung up on the wall that held just him and Roy, both of them were always looking away from each other as if they were embarrassed to look at the other. Chuckling, he kept looking at each pictures, hoping to find more that reminded him of the old days. That was until he found the one picture on the mantle that brought tears to his face.

Framed in a beautiful wooden frame, a picture from Al and Winry's wedding sat before him. Slowly, he reached up and took the picture into his hands and traced his fingers over Al's face and then Winry's. After the funeral for all three of them, Ed wasn't able to find anything in the fire that had survived. He didn't even know if Marianna could remember what her parents looked like as she was very young when they had died. Sitting down on the couch, he stared at the picture, trying to remember the happy times that he shared with his brother before the accident. Tears began to form in his eyes as the memories made their way into this head. He remembered the moment when he returned to this world and got to see Al for the first time in a long time in his human body. It had been such a joy, that Ed couldn't remember exactly how long he held onto his brother. Many tears were shed at that moment, both of happiness and shear relief that his journey and mission was finally over. He had gotten his brother's body back just as he had promised and was home with him to live out his life.

Many many memories filled Ed's head and he couldn't believe how many he had nearly forgotten. Wiping the tears from his eyes, he sat the pictures down on the coffee table and shook his head. He could hear Marianna in the kitchen giggling happily while she helped Roy cooked whatever meal he had planned. Sighing, he took the picture and sat it up on the mantle where it had been before and just stood there staring at his family. Memories, so heartwarming and heart-wrenching at the same time but they are something that no one can live without. Again he wiped the new tears from his eyes before looking up toward the ceiling and shoving his hands in his pockets.

"Come on, Ed," he whispered to himself as he rocked back and forth on his feet, hearing a small grinding sound coming from his leg. "You have to stay strong for Marianna and yourself."

"Talking to yourself, I see," Ed heard Roy say, scaring him a bit. "Marianna is waiting at the dinner table for you. She wanted to come get you herself but when I saw you standing there, I figured it would be better for her to wait."

"I'm sorry," was his reply as he peeked over to see Roy standing next to him.

"Don't be," Roy said, giving him half of a smile. "Let's go eat dinner before Marianna becomes suspicious, we can talk afterward about everything, alright?"

Ed nodded as he smiled before following Roy into the kitchen for the meal that he and Marianna had prepared so nicely. When they walked into the dining area, Ed found that Marianna was sitting on a stack of books at the table. Smiling, he moved over and kissed the top of her head before taking his seat at the table.

"Uncle Eddy, do you see all the food I helped cook?" Marianna asked, smiling at her uncle as she pointed out everything on the table.

"It all looks very tasty," he replied, returning the smile. "You'll have to make sure you thank Roy for letting you help cook and for dinner, alright?"

"She's a very well-behaved girl, Ed," Roy stated as he took his seat at the head of the table. "She already thanked me before I went looking for you. It's a wonder you were ever able to teach her such good manners."

Ed sent a glare Roy's way, earning a laugh from Marianna before they all started in on the meal that was so lovingly prepared. Polite conversation was shared amongst the three with only worried glances shot at Ed from Roy. It was simple talk with Mari leading most of the actually talking. She was quite a mouth at such a young age but Roy guessed that was probably in the genes. Despite it being just a simple dinner, with Ed and Marianna there to enjoy it with him, Roy felt that he was happy, the happiest he's been in a long time. Yet, even with this happiness, he knew that he and Ed would still need to have a serious conversation about his living situation and it wasn't going to be a simple conversation.

**TBC...**

**AN: **Well, there you have it, another chapter of this story and hopefully it gets going into the plot soon. I have so many stories to finish and I apologize again for the long interval between updates! R&R please! Luv you all!


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